Woodcuts

See Engravings on Wood, and Illustrated Books.—In printing from woodcuts, the workman should, before pulling the first impression, see that the surface of the cut is perfectly clear from particles of dirt, and that no pin or lump of paste is on the tympan. He ought then to pull very gently, or he may injure some of the fine lines of the engraving. Neither the pressure nor the impression of an engraving on wood should be uniformly equal; if it be, the effect intended to be produced by the artist will fail; and, instead of light, middle tint, and shade, an impression will be produced that possesses none of them in perfection; some parts will be too hard and black, while other parts will have neither pressure nor colour enough, nor any of the mildness of the middle tint, which ought to pervade a large part of an engraving, and on which the eye reposes after viewing the strong lights and the deep shades.